Small business may feel effects of IR reforms

Now the election is over, the focus has turned to what a new Labor Government will do with the nation's industrial relations laws.

Transcript

ALI MOORE: Now the election is over, the focus has turned to what a new Labor Government will do with the nation's industrial relations laws.

Labor's new minister-elect for workplace relations Julia Gillard says individual agreements will be abolished and the Labor party has also pledged to strengthen unfair dismissal laws. That's prompted concerns the planned reforms could threaten the profitability of small businesses.

Sue Lannin reports.

SUE LANNIN: Sydney based wallpaper manufacturer Signature Prints employs 19 people and exports products around the world. But the company's owners fear that Labor's planned changes to industrial relations laws could hit their business hard.

HELEN LENNIE, SIGNATURE PRINTS: We can possibly produce our designs and our fabrics and textiles offshore at a much cheaper rate. It may affect us in that way. We have to make clear business decisions, and that could be an issue for us.

SUE LANNIN: One of the changes by the Howard Government was the exemption of companies with fewer than 100 workers from unfair dismissal. But that is expected to be reversed under Labor.

Many small businesses like this cafe in inner city Sydney fear a return of the unfair dismissal laws. They say it will make it harder to hire people and could even send some small businesses bankrupt.

ARRIGO PILLON, IL FAGIANO: I don't want to see them rolling it back, because I think a it would create more unemployment and b, it would make it harder for small businesses like ourselves.

SUE LANNIN: Arrigo Pillon is also worried about the abolition of workplace agreements.

ARRIGO PILLON: The rentals have all gone up, the wages have all gone up, you know, then you have the GST factor, you have all of these factors combined which narrows your margins. And, therefore, small business is not doing as well as they were in the '80s and, therefore, we can't afford to go back to the '80s.

SUE LANNIN: At the big end of town where workplace agreements and unfair dismissal laws don't have much impact, it's a different world. As AMP's Craig Dunn prepares to take the baton from Andrew Mohl, he's hoping for support from Labor on changes to withholding tax.

CRAIG DUNN, INCOMING AMP CHIEF EXECUTIVE: I think in the area of withholding tax and some of the ways that we're taxed as an industry, they do potentially put barriers in place in terms of developing our financial services industry overseas and internationally.

ANDREW MOHL, AMP CHIEF EXECUTIVE: What we have to do is lift the productivity capacity of the economy to cope with that and, you know, that's a challenge that the Labor Government has set out a series of policies in order to try to meet that.

SUE LANNIN: Back on the factory floor, Helen Lennie's main concern is preserving the legacy of the founder of Signature Prints, flamboyant designer Florence Broadhurst.

HELEN LENNIE: From a change of government, I would like to see more support, especially with our heritage issues. In the background here, you will notice the Florence Broadhurst Library of Design.

Not only do we need to maintain the library, but we need to preserve it for future generations.

SUE LANNIN: It's a nervous time for Australia's companies, as they try to assess what the new Government means for them.